Inspecting Luxury in Nantucket

Alan Carney, a home inspector with Pillar To Post Home Inspectors, recently conducted a home inspection on this $25 million Nantucket property.

Q: You recently had a unique opportunity to conduct a home inspection on a grand home on Nantucket. Can you share your thoughts regarding the experience?

A: I became a Pillar To Post Home Inspector in 2017 and have the privilege of servicing a territory that has some of the most beautiful homes in the country. It includes Cape Cod and the islands of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. A REALTOR® I previously worked with recommended me for this job, which involved conducting an inspection on a $25 million property set on 62 acres, along with some out buildings.

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Can you provide a description of the main house?The main home had five bedrooms, each with its own color theme. There were four full bathrooms that contained marble walk-in showers and bathtubs, a beautiful guest or powder room with mahogany features and a master bath or fifth full bath in the master suite. In addition, there was an enormous cathedral ceiling with a walkway running along the front of the home overlooking living areas. The first floor featured two cavernous living areas, three fireplaces, a resort-sized kitchen and master suite with the nicest bathroom I’ve ever seen. It had a spa steam room and two showers.

What were some of the highlights for you on this inspection?The immense size of the home. The living room felt like the size of a high school gym. One building was strictly built to house a large eight-cylinder diesel generator. On the second day, I got to use a gas utility cart (like a golf cart) so that I could get around the huge property and its six buildings. The “office” building featured a domed ceiling with lights made to look like a night sky.

After all this, I produced five complete reports. The job took three days to complete, and the REALTOR® helped a lot, which I’m very appreciative of.

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What was the biggest challenge?Organizing the five different reports required for this property. We conducted two radon tests, which are very important, too. This was by far the largest report I’ve ever produced. It contained over 70 pages of pictures and narrative for the main home.

The bottom line is that you still use the same process whether you’re inspecting a $250,000 house, a $2.5 million house or a $25 million house. The biggest difference when inspecting a larger home is that there’s more area to cover—and it takes more time.